Eight Legged Freaks DVD > Reviews > That's One Big Plughole

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Story
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Advantages:	Great Effects, Lot's of fun, Some good scares
Disadvantages:	Will scare Aracnophobes silly

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Do you hate spiders, I mean do you really hate spiders? Well they don't like you either! Something along those lines was shown in the first teaser trailer for this movie and for those aracnophobes out, run away as the cinema screen is no longer a safe place for you.

I love monster movies, I enjoyed the likes of Deep Blue Sea and Anaconda for what they are. Trashy B-movies masquerading as big hollywood fare. You would hope that the makers had their tongues firmly in cheek when they made them. Although you kind of get the feeling they didn't. You won't find such perils with Eight Legged Freaks as it's strictly for mindless entertainment, stupidity and sheer enjoyment.

With a premise that harks back to the old B-movies of the 50's we find ourselves in the small american town of Prosperity. The town is in a slump and everywhere is in danger of closing down. However some toxic waste finds itself in the local waters by way of accident and soon the spiders at the local exotic spider farm are getting some toxic tasty crickets to eat. Of course the crickets came from the waters and the toxic waster seems to be having a strange effect on the spiders, causing them to grow to mammoth sizes.

When Chris McCormack (David Arquette) arrives back in town he hopes to find the gold that is rumoured to be in his dead fathers mine. However what he gets instead is a town where pets are going missing as well as townsfolk. Soon he has to contend with the eight legged freaks causing havoc and destruction on Proseperity befoer it's too late.

Nearly everyone has a slight fear of spiders for no apparant reason. Most are harmless and actually get rid of flys etc, they do you a favour. But if have the fear then imagine what it would be like to come face to face with a spider the size of a car. It's not really a nice thought but that's what you get to see on screen in this film.

For a film that cost $30 million, you have to appreciate the standard of the special effects that bring the spiders to life. If they're not believeable then the movie fails but the CGI in this movie is excellent. In fact I'd say it puts a lot of $100 million movies to shame as at no point could I really pick out a lame effect. I was sucked into the fact that I was seeing a giant turantula pushing over a trailer home.

On the acting front you have no real huge stars and that's what makes the film more enjoyable. David Arquette takes the lead and runs with it. His goofy manner comes across well and the audience is sure to get a kick out of him unloading a shotgun onto a mass of spiders with a cry of "Get back you eight legged freaks!", Kari Whurer plays the sherrif of the town and sherrif's don't come any sexier. You also have a few town oddballs as well as the sherrifs kids played by a great Scott Terra and Scarlett Johnson who shows how to ward of an over-zealous boyfriend.

The film is packed with loads of laughs, scares and general entertainment. The spiders cause a real threat throughout and just generally rampage. One moment involves some trapdoor spiders playing around with a pack of ostriches while another involves speedbikes and leaping arachnids.

All of it is done with a sly nod to the absurdity of the genre and that's why the film works. Because it knows it place and doesn't pretend to be anything more than a B-movie. If you look closely there's also some great ideas such as a spider on top of a lampost waving on a hoard of the beasts as they take siege on the local shopping mall. Even composer John Ottman gets in on the act with a great musical score that plays on the 'insy winsy spider' riff to create some great moments.

The only downside to the film is that it was cruelly ignored on it's US release a few weeks back and that's a real shame. I can safely say that there are films this summer that have taken far more money and been a lot worse. However I have no doubt that this film will find it's audience on video and could end up being a bit of a favourite.

Take your wive's, take your girlfriends, see it with your friends and confront your fears. This is what a summer movie should be.